What Putting Darren Waller on IR Means for the Short and Long Term

The Miami Dolphins tight end is dealing with a pectoral injury

Miami Dolphins tight end Darren Waller (83) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Los Angeles Chargers during the fourth quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. | Rich Storry-Imagn Images

Well, it was fun while it lasted.

Tight end Darren Waller's great comeback story has hit a snag, and who knows when he'll be able to resume it, assuming he can or will.

The Miami Dolphins placed the veteran tight end on injured reserve Wednesday because of an injury he sustained in the team's listless 31-6 loss against the Cleveland Browns last weekend. Head coach Mike McDaniel said Monday that Waller was delaying with a soft-tissue injury, while Waller's agent Drew Rosenhaus said during his weekly appearance on South Florida TV station WSVN he issue involved a pec.

Regardless, the move will put Waller on the shelf for at least the next four games — against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens in the Week 9 Thursday night game, the Buffalo Bills at Hard Rock Stadium and the Washington Commanders in the first-ever NFL regular season game in Spain.

To take Waller's place on the 53-man roster, the Dolphins signed fellow tight end Greg Dulcich from their practice sqad and replaced Dulcich there with another tight end, Chris Myarick. Myarick had a visit with the Dolphins on Tuesday, obviously a precursor to the Wednesday moves.

THE WALLER WATCH FOR THE FUTURE

Waller had four touchdowns in his first three games of the season after a delayed debut with the Dolphins, the result of a hip injury.

Through the game at Cleveland last Sunday, Waller not once was listed as a full participant in practice as he continued to deal with the hip issue.

While Waller clearly hasn't lost his playmaking skills despite sitting out the 2024 season, the injury problems are nothing new.

Before he retired in June of 2024 while a member of the New York Giants, Waller had missed 19 games over the 2021-23 seasons with various injuries, including back, knee and hamstring problems. If we add hip and pec, we've got a lot of the body parts covered.

Waller becomes the second Dolphins player to land on IR because of a pec injury, the first being veteran guard James Daniels.

With Daniels injured in Week 1 and still not designated to return off IR, he'll miss a seventh consecutive week Sunday.

While we don't know whether the injuries to Waller and Daniels are similar, that kind of timeline would mean Waller wouldn't be back until December.

The fact that Waller is signed only through the 2025 season and he's already retired once, it's impossible to ignore the possibility that either he might decide to call it quits after yet another injury or the Dolphins might decide not to bring him back from IR for the final weeks of a season that's pretty much already doomed and then move forward with younger tight end options next season.

This always was the risk when the Dolphins decided to acquire Waller in a trade with the New York Giants that included a swap of late-round conditional draft picks.

The best-case scenario was Waller showing the skills that made him a Pro Bowl tight end and an impact player with the Las Vegas Raiders, and that's what the Dolphins got during his first three games, starting with the Week 4 Monday night game against the New York Jets when he scored two touchdowns.

But Waller's recent injury history also was difficult to ignore, and it popped up right away when he started training camp on PUP and started the regular season on the sidelines as he worked his way back from the hip issue.

And now we wait to see if there's another chapter in his Dolphins journey.

THE BOOK ON DULCICH

The Dolphins signed Dulcich to the practice squad in late August after he was among the New York Giants' cut to the 53-player roster limit.

Dulcich has appeared in 21 games with 10 starts in four seasons since entering the NFL as a third-round pick of the Denver Broncos in the 2022 draft.

We highlighted Dulchich as a player the Dolphins should consider claiming off waivers after the cuts to 53 were made — precisely as insurance against Waller being unavailable.